


Just Encouragement

by broadlicnic



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Gap Filler, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-20
Updated: 2011-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 14:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadlicnic/pseuds/broadlicnic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid and Luke end up sharing Holden and Molly's honeymoon suite, but things don't go according to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Encouragement

**Author's Note:**

> (Now) AU follow-up to Holden and Molly's non-wedding.

"That buy me some time?"

Reid raises his hand, thumb and forefinger close together, and offers Luke a small smile.

Luke laughs. "We should get out of here."

"Why?" Reid asks, taking Luke's hand again. "The room's still paid for. We can just...hang out."

Luke narrows his eyes, "You wanna eat the food, don't you?"

"So much," Reid says, releasing the breath he doesn't even realise he is holding in. Luke nods and steps away, heading for the flowers as Reid fills his palms with chocolate mints.

"I'm getting rid of these flowers, at least."

"I still think you should rest," Reid says around a mouthful of chocolate, "it's not exactly been the easiest day."

"What about you?" Luke asks. "You did come here straight from a seven hour surgery."

"Oh man, that was today?" Reid flings himself onto the bed, leaning back against the pillows. "Seems like a week ago."

"Yeah," Luke says, perching on the bed next to Reid. "My family can be a little crazy."

"A little?" Reid laughs. "Just how many weddings have your parents had, anyway?"

"One less than I expected," Luke admits.

Reid pulls at Luke's arm, encouraging him to lie back against the cushions beside Reid. Then he pops another chocolate mint into his mouth. "How do you feel about that?"

"Why do you only talk about feelings with your mouth full?" Luke asks. Reid shrugs. "I suppose I shouldn't feel anything," Luke says with a sigh. "It's dad and Molly's decision, not mine. I feel bad, for Abi mostly, but-"

"You think there's hope for him and your mom," Reid finishes, and swallows the last piece of chocolate. "It's understandable." He turns on his side, resting on his elbow, and brings his other hand up to cup Luke's cheek. "Just don't let it get you down, okay?"

"Okay," Luke nods. Then he laughs and bats Reid's hand away. "Now stop being so sensitive. It's weird."

"Sure," Reid says, and his mouth contorts into a smirk. "You have crap on your face."

"Yeah, well you have big hands!" Luke shoots back, mock offended.

"No, really," Reid says. "I must have had chocolate on my palm. Here," Reid leans over Luke, almost automatically, and swipes his tongue over Luke's cheek. When he pulls back, he rolls his eyes and slams the back of his head into the pillow. "Okay, that was ridiculous, wasn't it?"

"A little," Luke replies. He pulls himself up to his knees, and drags Reid into a sitting position. "But feel free to be ridiculous any time you like."

Luke leans over him, his hand on Reid's chest trapping him against the headboard, and stares for a long moment into Reid's eyes, his breathing getting heavier and heavier. Reid's about to point out that Luke looks like he's got the vapors when Luke slowly shuts his lids and leaves his mouth slightly parted. Reid tilts his chin up to kiss him.

Each kiss with Luke is different. The salty tears on Luke's lips at Katie's place and the uncharacteristic giddy excitement of that moment before Noah saw them. Even this feels different to a few minutes ago: the taste of sparkling cider and wedding cake in Luke's mouth mixing pleasantly with the mint on Reid's breath. In fact, it tastes delicious.

It's quite tentative at first. Reid is all too aware of Luke's earlier anxiety, and doesn't know where to put his hands. Would the familiar face-cupping make Luke feel trapped? If his hand grabs Luke's hip, would Luke push him away, with the excuse that "Noah used to do that"? He chooses to leave his arms by his sides, allowing Luke's hand twisted in his shirt to manipulate the pressure.

Luke pauses for breath, his lips still brushing against Reid's as he gasps, "What's wrong?"

"What are we doing?" Reid asks, still a little too cautious to move.

"Just encouragement," Luke answers innocently, nudging Reid's nose with his own.

Reid allows himself to relax, his hand running up Luke's back until eventually his fingers are tangled in Luke's hair. Luke pulls Reid closer with a tug on his tie, his tongue exploring Reid's mouth. Reid presses Luke closer, sharply inhaling through his nose, and allows his other hand to rest on Luke's hip. Luke must take this as some kind of guidance, because before Reid realises, Luke is straddling him, squashing Reid back against the headboard and rotating his hips. His kisses travel down Reid's jawline, his neck, to the little dip of his collar bone, and it's all getting too much. Reid's skin feels flushed, his hands clammy, and this can't be happening; not after everything Luke's just said.

"You're incredible," he gasps.

"So are you," Luke mumbles into Reid's neck.

"No," Reid snaps, and suddenly he's overwhelmed with the idea that Luke planned this. He grabs Luke's chin, and pulls him up to meet his eyes. "You're incredible," he spits, and Luke twists his head away, rocking back on his heels to sit on Reid's thighs.

"Reid-" he begins, confusion in his eyes, but Reid cuts him off.

"Are you trying to tease me?" Reid asks, inwardly urging his body to stop reacting to Luke licking his bottom lip. "I mean, one minute you're asking me to wait for you, and the next you're grinding in my lap."

"I'm sorry, I-" Luke tries to interject again, but Reid needs to say this now before he gives in and let's Luke do something he regrets.

"I know, encouragement," Reid sighs, bringing a hand up to his face to rub the bridge of his nose. "And I bet you and Noah were probably able to control yourselves or something, but I want this, Luke. I want this more than I've wanted anything in a long time."

"I want it too," Luke whispers.

"Oh really?" Reid asks. "Because just a half hour ago, you were saying you couldn't do this until you got Noah out of your head. I'm prepared to wait as long as that takes, but I'm not prepared to have you blatantly rub that fact in my face."

"I wasn't," Luke says, and he sounds so small that Reid actually starts to doubt the point he's making. "I'm sorry, Reid," Luke says, getting up off the bed. "I'm sorry." And Reid hears the en suite door close before he can even formulate a reply.

Reid sighs, and glances over at the table of food. If this was anyone else, Reid would leave them to their moping and snack himself to happiness, but Luke was under his skin and he wasn't going to deny it any more. If only he hadn't fallen for someone so prone to drama.

He shifts himself off the bed and pads over to the en suite door, almost stubbing his toe on a box of flowers along the way. He knocks lightly and leans back against the wall. There's no reply, so he calls out, "Luke?" Luke still doesn't answer, but he can hear a distinct sniff through the wood, so he tries again. "Luke, are you crying?"

"No," Luke snaps.

"Then why do you sound all sniffly?" Reid asks.

"I'm allergic," Luke insists. "To the soap."

Reid takes a deep breath, and sits against the door. He can't quite believe he's going to do this, but if he's ever going to get Luke out of that damn bathroom...

"When did you and Noah first have sex?"

"What?" Luke gasps, and Reid can hear him sinking to the floor on the other side of the door.

"When did you and Noah first have sex?" he repeats, a little slower this time.

"Why would you even ask me that?"

"Because," Reid begins, and he gets that slightly nauseous feeling in his stomach that's always present whenever Katie tries to get him to talk about emotions and love and things that aren't neurosurgery or sandwiches. "I want to understand this, and believe it or not, I care a hell of a lot more about you than about sleeping with you, but we're gonna need to talk about Noah eventually if we want this to work, so why not now while there's no distractions?"

"Do I have to come out?" Luke asks, and Reid laughs.

"I'd kinda prefer not to talk to a door."

"I don't want to."

"Then I'll come in," Reid says, and Luke unlocks the door. Wordlessly, they move to sit side by side, with their backs against the bathtub. They don't look at each other, but Luke takes Reid's hand and Reid allows him to take control of the situation.

"Noah and I were together for two years before we had sex," Luke begins. Reid anticipated that they hadn't jumped into bed together, but the revelation leaves him stunned. "It never felt right, between the paralysis and him marrying Ameera and when I got expelled and started drinking again..."

"Wait, what?"

Luke looks at him then, "Those details can wait. We just wanted our first time to be perfect."

"And you want the same for us?" Reid asks.

"Of course!" Luke says. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," Reid replies. "But I don't see what else I can do. I'm happy, and I thought you were-"

"-I am-"

"Then what's the problem?" Reid asks, and he's kicking himself inside for causing that look on Luke's face. Then his internal Doctor Oliver is kicking him for caring. "I know, you haven't really had closure on Noah, but I don't know what to do to give you that."

"It's not your fault," Luke insists. "I just need to get my head around things. Noah was the only person I had ever been with, and then you come into my life, and I only know how to be with him..."

Suddenly, it clicks, and Reid can't believe he didn't see it before. He almost laughs in Luke's face for not realising sooner, but catches himself. "This has nothing to do with Noah, does it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't stop because you're not over Noah," Reid says, as if he's working through some medical breakthrough and not psychoanalysing his boyfriend. "You're scared I'll be disappointed."

The blush on Luke's cheeks is all Reid needs to confirm his theory. "You really are an idiot, Mr Snyder. Do you really think I care how amazing you are in bed? As long as it's you in that bed, that's all that matters to me."

"Are you sure?" Luke asks, scooting closer to Reid along the tiled floor.

"I am," Reid says, and kisses Luke softly on the lips. "Plus, teaching you a few tricks could be fun."

Luke runs his hand over the creases in Reid's shirt, creases put there by his grasp in their earlier encounter. "Do you want to?" he asks, his voice almost a whisper.

"Not tonight," Reid gets to his feet, and offers Luke a hand to get up. "You look beat, and I thought you wanted our first time to be perfect."

Luke smiles and kisses him, and then Reid wraps a friendly arm over his shoulders, in the way he's seen Casey do to Luke dozens of times. "Plus, there's all the tears. You look like Molly."

"I would have thought you'd be interested in crying," Luke says, unfastening his tie. "You know, the connection between the brain and the lacrimal gland, and how we shed tears without any irritation of the ocular structures."

Reid raises an eyebrow.

"I may have been reading some medical journals," Luke admits.

They're still half-dressed when they climb into the bed, and Luke curls into Reid's side, his head resting on Reid's shoulder. "Thanks for today," Luke whispers. "You're welcome to bitch about it at great length tomorrow."

"Can I ask you something?" Reid says, already feeling the lull of fatigue. He feels Luke nod against his shoulder. "Faith. What is up with that?"

"That's my sister!" Luke says, his incredulous laugh lost in a yawn.

"Well tell her that Snyders are much more appealing when they smile."

\---

Reid has already been awake for two hours when Luke opens his eyes.

"Have you been watching me sleep?" Luke asks.

"If there was a bear in your room, growling, you'd probably have a glance at it," Reid muses, and Luke slaps him lightly on the chest.

"Are you trying to say I snore?"

"Like a pig hunting for truffles," Reid laughs. Luke grins dopily at him.

"I like waking up with you."

"That's nice, dear," Reid says, not bothering to hide his sarcasm, "but we need to be out of here in an hour and there's still all this wedding crap to move and food to steal."

Luke pulls himself out of bed and stretches, sleepily shuffling over to the flowers. Reid heads for the fruit basket.

"Are you working today?" Luke asks.

"I have nothing scheduled," Reid says. He takes a bite out of a banana. "Though I'd better check up on the poor bastard from yesterday."

"How about I come over tonight?" Luke suggests. "When I've checked on everything at the farm and with my dad."

"Sure," Reid says, picking up one of the boxes. "Katie's having dinner at Bob and Kim's, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Perfect," Luke says, with just the right amount of emphasis that Reid knows what he means.


End file.
